A Dancer's Tears
by Procrastinator20
Summary: Just a little one shot. Elizabeth is a dance teacher and single mum. Darcy, is well, Darcy. Pride and Prejudice ensues.


He smiled as he recollected Georgie's excitement after finding out she'd been selected to perform at the Longbourn annual dance recital. It was amazing how much she'd come out from her shell. He couldn't help but frown in concern when he remembered that Elizabeth wasn't able to make it to the lesson today, she was ill and so it had been cancelled. He hoped she wasn't feeling too poorly, for Georgie's sake of course.

Darcy shook his head and realised he was now driving past the Longbourn studios, narrowing his eyes as he spotted a familiar figure darting across the parking lot and through the double doors of the studio. Despite the disguise of a baseball hat and sunglasses, he would have recognised the mess of curls tumbling down her back any day. So Elizabeth Bennett wasn't as ill as she claimed to be. Darcy felt a flare of anger (no, not excitement) surge through his blood, she had been lying. And of course, any form of deception to him was abhorrent. And no, the unsettling in his stomach was not because of the anticipation of seeing her again thank you very much, but because of the apprehension of a confrontation.

Opening the doors gently Will smiled at the receptionist and made the familiar way to her studio, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention to himself. He'd check if she was there first, if not he would search elsewhere. Why he was conducting such a thorough search of a Miss Elizabeth Bennett he wasn't quite so sure of, he could easily confront her later, or make a complaint. And thus an internal battle ensued.

_You're only here because you want to see her. _

_Don't be ridiculous. She's lied and I want to know why, that's all._

_Stop kidding yourself. You've pulled a sickie every now and again to get away from it all. You're just annoyed that you didn't get to see her again and miserably fail at keeping up a conversation._

_No. I'm just annoyed at the fact that she's let Georgie down. Georgie needs someone reliable to help her come out of this; she's been doing so well._

_Darcy, let's be real here. She's Georgie's __**dance**__ teacher, not her therapist. You're __**paying**__ her to __**teach**__ Georgie not to be her surrogate mother. She is in no way responsible for Georgie outside of their classes. Face it. You're __**whipped.**_

_Am not. Besides, I'm paying her as you so clearly stated, I have a right to be annoyed if she pulls a sick day when she clearly isn't, and I'm not wasting my money-_

_Yeah, these classes are clearly burning a hole in your pocket. You know Georgie chose this school because she didn't want to be stuck with all the rich snobby kids at Rosings & Hunsford. You're in love Darcy, admit it. _

_No. Not in love. Just…_

_Infatuated, obsessed and exhibiting stalker-like behaviour. _

_It doesn't matter anyway. She despises me. _

_You'll only know if you ask._

Darcy shook his head, grateful for the blessed fact that the inner workings (well conversations) of his mind were heard by himself alone. As he approached her studio he felt the floor hum with the beat of various songs. Someone was changing the tracks on an album, stopping on a song he was familiar with but could not quite recall the name of, Georgie had been blaring it on the radio a lot recently, some remix or something. He peered through the window in the door and saw Elizabeth sitting against the wall, her knees drawn up to her chest, eyes closed. He was about charge in and demand why she was not present to teach the class a few hours ago but was capable of being here now when he noticed the tears running down her face.

She wiped her face and pressed on the iPod connected to the speakers, restarting the song. She then began to dance, and Darcy could not help but watch, entranced as she moved. Her body seemed moulded to the music, twisting and turning then jerking to a stop in time to the beat. She was like a bird trapped in cage, desperate to get out. His eyes followed as she leapt and rolled, her movements exaggerated, almost violent. He felt stupid remembering his dismissive comment when he first saw her, she could dance and she was beautiful, like a rare exotic creature who was speaking through movements, like some sort of physical poetry. The tears did not stop nor did her eyes open. _What happened? Was Adam okay?_

_Staying in my play pretend_

_Where the fun ain't got no end_

_Can't go home alone again_

_Need someone to numb the pain_

_You're gone and I gotta stay_

_High_

_All the time to find, to-_

_High_

_All the time to find, to-_

_High_

_All the time_

_To keep you off my mind_

Darcy stood there in a daze as the song came to a halt and watched as her shoulders heaved from the exertion. He felt exhausted just from watching her. A slow instrumental started and Elizabeth rolled her head, stretching her arm across her front and spinning gently, stopping as she saw Darcy at the window. He had an overwhelming urge to run, feeling like a child caught eavesdropping at the door. They remained eye to eye for a few moments, her bundle of chestnut curls piled atop her head with a few escaped tendrils curling around her neck. Her dark coffee coloured eyes glistening with freshly shed tears, the tracks sliding down her cheeks past her parted lips, revealing the slightly crooked teeth he also stupidly insulted that first day he saw her. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Hi." He said quietly, his voice echoing in the studio. She pursed her lips, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Hi." She replied walking over to the dock and unplugging her iPod and packing it into her bag. They were left in an awkward silence. She folded her arms across her chest and waited for him to speak. He cleared his throat, trying to look at anything but her.

"I heard you weren't feeling well." He finally said lamely. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Georgie said you didn't come to class today." Still she said nothing. "I was just driving around and I saw you come in…" He trailed off. He always seemed to lose all eloquence when speaking to her.

"So you decided to find out why I was playing hooky." She finished for him, her eyebrow still raised archly. At least he had the decency to look sheepish. He shrugged.

"I guess."

"And finding me in tears changed that huh." She said quietly. Will looked up at her, his gaze intense as he watched a pink flush steal across her already rosy cheeks.

"Is…is everything okay?" Elizabeth sniffed lightly.

"Look Darcy, I appreciate your concern. But you and I aren't exactly friends so don't be offended if I choose not to tell you." Darcy didn't know what to make of her statement. He thought they got along fine.

"I understand." He said quietly. Her face softened as she took in his expression.

"Besides, you know what they say, time heals all wounds. I'll be back to teaching in no time and you won't have to hunt me down and demand explanations ever again." Her eyes were sparkling again. Silence reclaimed them.

"Why?" He asked, well blurted. It was clearly an instance where the barrier between the mind and the mouth had been removed. She looked puzzled. He breathed in, he had started and so he may as well finish.

"Why are we not friends?" His voice was quiet, his grey eyes fixed on the scuff mark on the floor. Hers widened.

"Well…I..." She huffed. "We don't exactly get along Darcy."

"Why not?" He looked up at her sharply and she looked taken aback. Why this was important to him she had no idea. She knew she was only tolerated because of the friendship she shared with Georgie. "I mean, right from the beginning we were always arguing, you never seemed to like me even then."

Elizabeth frowned slightly, remembering that he didn't know she'd overheard his insults of her. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Why did he have to complicate matters? Everything was fine as it was.

"I heard you." She said, meeting his stare. It was his turn to look puzzled. She pursed her lips, remembering. "When you were talking with Alec on the opening night."

Darcy felt all the blood leave his face, his memory sifting through all the insults he had too casually flung. The blood returned to his face as quickly as it had left.

"I…" He started. Elizabeth shook her head.

"I don't care about what you said about my appearance. It's the fact that you judged my character straight away, as soon as you'd heard I was a single parent." She tried to keep calm, but Will noticed the irritation creeping into her voice. He closed his eyes briefly.

"Elizabeth, I am so sorry. I…I was an idiot. A judgemental idiot. I said a lot of things that night that I would never usually."

"I accept your apology, but you see that was the problem." Darcy frowned. "You still were judgemental. I know you don't like the fact that Georgie chose to come here for dance classes instead of De Bourghs' institution. I saw it on your face every time you picked her up and asked about her progress. I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt regarding that night, but to me, in my eyes, you still showed yourself to be a judgemental and well, arrogant arsehole."

The calm and collected way in which she delivered this speech was what hurt most for Will. If she was angry or upset he could at least know that cared for his opinion, but the indifference shown was something he couldn't handle.

"I've had so much stick from people like you." She continued. "Ever since I came here with Adam, they all straight away assumed that I was a bit too loose and winded up with a kid. They all expected me to just spill out my life story to a group of virtual strangers, which obviously I did not and will not. If people aren't willing to give me the benefit of the doubt, to just ask me some basic questions, then those aren't the kind of people I'd want to associate myself with." Darcy scoffed and Elizabeth raised a brow in retort.

"And you just accused me of arrogance."

"Excuse me?"

"You won't _associate_ yourself with people like me? Are we beneath you?"

"Don't twist my words Darcy. You know that's not what I was saying."

"What were you saying? You expect people to give you a chance when you won't even try to explain yourself."

"No one bothered asking actually." Her eyes flashed angrily.

"Oh and what were they supposed to ask, was it a one night stand? Did he leave you after he found out you were pregnant?"

Once again the mind/mouth barrier was gone. He regretted it as soon he uttered the words. She reeled back in horror, her expressions rapidly changing from hurt to anger and then to that infuriating passive indifference.

"Neither actually. I _divorced_ my _husband _when Adam was two years old. I found out this morning that he had been killed in a car accident. I'll spare you the gory details. Have a good day Mr Darcy." Elizabeth picked up her bag and walked out of the studio.

It was a good few minutes before he processed this information and another for his body to move after her. He hurried outside to the parking lot, frantically looking around for her, how on earth had things gone so badly? _Why_ was he such a judgemental arsehole? His heart clenched as he imagined the pain she was going through, he understood her dance now, the emotion and desperation behind it and he just wanted to hit his head against the wall. What an imbecile.

She was right. Of course she was, he hadn't bothered asking her about Adam. It wasn't as if it was socially unacceptable, a mere, _'So is his father here too?'_ or a fairly general question would have sufficed. But no. He jumped to conclusions about her, like everyone else did.

He was going to have some serious grovelling to do.


End file.
